


B is for Bravery

by zeilfanaat



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alphabet Soup Challenge, Episode: s01e08 Cold Lazarus, Episode: s02e04 The Gamekeeper, Episode: s02e21 1969, Episode: s03e13 The Devil You Know, Gen, Missing Scene, SG-1 Team - Freeform, Stargate Movie, Time Travel, Time Travel Alphabet Soup 2015
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-05
Updated: 2015-03-05
Packaged: 2018-03-16 12:43:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3488672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zeilfanaat/pseuds/zeilfanaat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even though he had hated sending SG-1 on that mission without knowing if they would make it back… he still let them go.<br/>And so he worried, resigned to waiting. He calculated how much the Colonel would owe him, with interest, if only to keep his mind on the positive track. They would return.</p><p>Missing Scene for the episode “1969” from George’s perspective.</p>
            </blockquote>





	B is for Bravery

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Time Travel Alphabet Soup March 2015, run by SG_Fignewton on LiveJournal.

General Hammond was watching them as they returned. He was relieved to see they had made it back. Apparently the cryptic note that he’d given to Sam before they left, had been sufficient – not to mention correct! He’d remembered what the note had said back in 1969. It had been such an incredible experience, that he’d committed the note to memory. Although he had checked the information with Captain Carter’s research later on, just to be sure. 

What he _hadn’t_ known was whether SG-1 had figured out that they were the time and dates of two solar flares, which would send them back to nearly 30 years later. Then again, if they hadn’t managed to go back to the future, George was sure they would have found a way to let him know for the ‘next’ time. To use different times or dates, or to be more specific in his note so that when it would happen ‘again’, they would be able to go home. Either that or they had been killed trying to get home. He had tried, back in 1969, to find out, as inconspicuously as he could manage… He hadn’t found anything to indicate they hadn’t made it… but there was only so much he could find out without someone noticing. Especially with the limited knowledge he’d had back then as a Lieutenant. 

Once he became the SGC’s commander, he’d wanted to try and find out more. But by then, he had become aware of the complicated politics surrounding the Stargate Programme. He’d realised that if he got caught trying to find out more, someone could possibly prevent SG-1 from going through the gate. It needn’t even be someone from the SGC’s enemies. Well-meaning people, concerned for whether or not SG-1 would return, could put a stop to their mission. And that would change the timeline. So even though he had hated sending SG-1 on that mission without knowing if they would make it back… he still let them go. 

And so he worried, resigned to waiting. He calculated how much the Colonel would owe him, with interest, if only to keep his mind on the positive track. They would return. 

He was glad and relieved to see them walking down that ramp, and rather amused at how they had apparently blended in. He joked around with the Colonel, who actually allowed his own relief to show clearly on his face. In fact, George briefly wondered at that. While it was true that the Colonel could be quite… expressive when he tried to make a point, the man could equally well conceal his true emotions behind a thoroughly tested mask. Especially when said emotions could potentially be seen as a weakness. 

Hammond didn’t think the Colonel quite meant to show this much emotion. It was testament to the emotional turmoil the man had been through. The General’s heart ached in sympathy. 

He had expected all of them to think of the ‘what if’s that they could have made reality by changing the timeline. He had realised what he would put them through, and had trusted them not to act on these opportunities so as not to affect their world. He had in fact known that they hadn’t. 

Yes, known. 

He had known when he heard that Jacob’s wife had died because of an accident. An accident that Jacob felt might have been prevented. If only he had been on time so he could have picked up his wife. In a rare, unguarded moment, when emotions ran high, Jacob had confided in George. He’d told him of how his kids blamed him for his wife’s death, which had only magnified his own feelings of guilt. How Samantha had hardly spoken to him for a while. 

That same woman was now under his command, and had gone back to a time where she could prevent her mother’s death. Yet Jacob’s wife had still died. 

It wasn’t that long ago that they had learnt how Daniel Jackson’s parents had died. If George had calculated it correctly, he would now be in time to actually prevent it. And this time, chances were, the results _would_ be different from when SG-1 had been stuck in the Keeper’s ‘game’. And yet, Doctor Jackson’s parents had still died. 

If SG-1 had discovered the gate back in 1969, but had gone through at a different time to a different address, Teal’c might have caused a Jaffa rebellion long before SG-1 stepped onto Chulak. He might have saved many Jaffa and potential hosts. He might have led a life with his family, rather than separated by a couple of light-years. He hadn’t. 

And Colonel O’Neill… Jack had carried the anguish and feelings of guilt of losing his son to his own service weapon. To be presented with the opportunity to change that… Yet Charlie O’Neill had still died… 

When George had taken command of the SGC and had gradually become aware of the hardships the members of SG-1 had gone through in their lives, his respect for these people had gone up even further. 

They had resisted the temptation to affect a change back in 1969. They might have yearned for reprieve for their future selves and those they loved, but they had chosen to do right by the rest of the world, yes, even the universe. 

He knew, if SG-1 had not tried to change even those particular all too imaginable painful events, they had done their utmost not to affect history at all.

He was proud of them. 

Now all they had to do was debrief, file reports, and then Hammond himself could finally put this particular time travelling business firmly in the past. 

**The End**


End file.
